Posted: March 24, 2001
The White House, Josh's bullpen
June 18, 2001
1:25 p.m.
Donna sat at her desk, staring blankly
at her computer screen. It had been nearly a month and Josh's attitude
still hadn't changed. So Donna's again found herself sitting at her desk
with nothing to do for the remaining thirty-five minutes of her lunch hour.
If this were a "normal" day for Donna, she would be pulling reference materials,
working up index cards and calling Senators, all while eating her lunch.
But now, she sat unbothered, unnoticed and feeling unwanted.
Donna sighed and opened her purse.
She pulled out a mirror and her lipstick and began to reapply the portion
that was eaten away by lunch when she saw Leo's reflection appear behind
her.
"Hey Donna," Leo said. "You busy?"
"No," Donna answered. "I'm not needed
until two."
"Good, take a walk with me would you?"
"Sure."
Donna placed her things back in her
purse and stood up. Leo and Donna came out of her space and past Josh's
door. Almost instinctively, Josh appeared in the doorway.
"Hey, where you going with my assistant?"
Josh questioned.
"I need her to do something and since
she's not busy, now's a good time." Leo replied with just a hint of sternness
in his voice.
"Why do – okay, then. Just don't keep
her too long," Josh said and disappeared back inside.
Leo nodded and resumed walking, with
Donna in tow. Leo walked at a considerably slower pace than Josh; Donna
had to constantly remind herself to slow down. The two walked the halls
of the west wing until they came to the Oval Office.
"Uh, Leo," Donna said, "why are we
here?"
"Because the President has something
he needs from you."
"Okay," Donna said, her voice quivering
slightly.
Donna had been in the Oval Office on
several occasions, mostly with Josh. This was only her second time without
him, but her first time being summoned. Leo opened the door and ushered
Donna in ahead of him.
President Bartlet sat in a wingback
chair and looked up when he heard the door open.
"Donna. Thanks for coming. That'll
be all Leo."
"Thank you, Mr. President." Leo said,
closing the door.
"Thank you," the President replied.
Donna just stood there, frozen. She
didn't know what to do next.
"Donna, please come sit down," the
President said as he motion toward the couch to his left.
Donna slowly moved towards the President.
"C'mon Donna. I won't bite," the President
said with a light laugh in his voice.
Donna sat down on the couch and the
President handed her a red folder. Donna opened it up and read the bold
line: "Annual Kick-Off Campaign Celebration."
"Donna, I want you to know that your
work has not gone unnoticed," President Bartlet said. "Your quick catch
of Stackhouse's agenda was brilliant. It saved us all a lot of headaches."
"Thank you sir."
"Now, I want you to step it up a notch.
You've heard of the Kick-Off Campaign?"
"Yes, sir," Donna replied.
"Good. Well this year, I want you to
organize it. The whole kit and caboodle – from decorations to invitations
to speakers. Your organizational skills are widely known and by keeping
Josh in-line you may be the only one who regularly saves our collective
sanity."
Donna smiled, not wanting to burden
the President with Josh's sudden change. After all, Josh appeared to be
doing just fine on his own. It was Donna who felt she was on the edge.
"You, Leo, CJ and myself will have
meetings every other day to discuss everything that's going right and anything
that's going wrong. Donna, this has to be finalized by the first, because
the speech is the fifth."
"Absolutely, sir," Donna said. "I'll
have everything done by the end of next week."
"Okay, but don't neglect your duties
with Josh," the President said.
"That won't be a problem, sir." Donna
responded.
Now I have something to do, since
Josh lightened my workload, Donna thought.
"That'll be all, Donna. I'll see you
on the 20th."
"Thank you, Mr. President," Donna said
standing. She reached the door and paused.
"Sir, may I just say thank you for
believing in me?"
"Your welcome, Donna
*****************
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
June 20, 2001
4:30 p.m.
"Okay, and make sure that the dais
is setup no later than 6:30. We have to do a mike check and the Secret
Service needs to be able to check things out," Donna said into the telephone
receiver.
"Yes, Ms. Moss," came a reply from
the other end. "We will take care of it. Will you be needing any of our
staff?"
"Let's see," Donna said peering into
her binder. "I'll only need them from 2:30 to 4:30 so that they can set
up the tables and decorations. Then the White House staff will take over
from there."
"Very well. And thank you once again
for choosing the Watergate Hotel to host the President's Kick-Off Celebration."
"Thank you," Donna replied hanging
up the phone.
"Well, Donna" CJ said as she kicked
her heels up on her desk, "I must say that you've managed to get a lot
farther in two days than the last person did four years ago."
"I've had a lot of time on my hands,"
Donna replied with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"So, what have you got so far?"
"Well, the balloons are ordered and
the caterer's been called. The invitations have gone out. The Secret Service
has the possible guest list and is checking out the Watergate Hotel as
we speak. The only thing left is the President's speech."
"Did you hear that he wants to write
it himself?" CJ said as a grin appeared.
"Yes, and after Toby and Sam regained
consciousness, what happened?" Donna said grinning.
"There's still fighting with him about
it."
"Oh, boy," Donna said rolling her eyes.
"Are we ready to go?"
"Yep," CJ said, planting her feet back
on the floor and grabbing her notebook. "Let's roll, sister."
*****************
The Oval Office
June 20, 2001
5:25 p.m.
Donna stood nervously tapping her foot
outside the Oval Office while waiting for the President to finish with
Josh and Sam. The door finally opened and the two deputies walked out.
"Thank you," Sam said gratefully as
they paused outside the office. Charlie instantly entered to check in with
the President while Donna waited. "Toby and I were almost sure he was going
to write the thing himself."
"I just told him he should," Josh said,
not sounding pleased with the outcome.
"I know," Sam said. "I was there. You
cinched it."
"I told him he should," Josh said again.
"I know and he realized what a bad
idea it was after hearing you agree with him," Sam said with a grin. "That
was helpful."
"Sure," Josh replied dejectedly. "So
long as I have a purpose. You do realize he's going to read us what he
wrote. He's not going to let all that work go to waste."
Sam's expression turned dark and foreboding.
His shoulders drooped and he groaned quietly. He and Josh started to leave
the outer office and appeared to notice Donna for the first time.
"Hey Donna," Josh said.
"Hey," Donna replied as she walked
past him when Charlie signaled her to enter. Josh stopped for a brief moment
and turned around to face the retreating figure. Josh hung his head and
continued back to his office.
Inside the Oval Office, Donna approached
the President's desk and opened her bulging folder.
"Donna, show me what you've got," the
President said as he put on his glasses.
Donna handed him the folder and the
President reviewed all of her impeccable notes--all typed. The President
nodded and grinned.
"This is wonderful, Donna," the President
remarked. "What's next?"
"Well, sir," Donna answered, "All that's
left is to do is to start on the follow-up calls to Senators and Congressmen
and we're set."
"Nice. Well, I don't see any reason
to have a meeting on Friday, then. We'll postpone it until next Wednesday."
"Certainly, sir. By then I should have
a decent head count."
"Anything else?" the President asked.
"No, sir. Thank you, Mr. President."
"Thank you."
Donna turned and walked out of the
Oval Office with an added spring in her step. She was starting to feel
important again. She decided that she could deal with Josh's attitude and
newfound independence--at least for the moment. She had more important
concerns than some old Deputy White House Chief of Staff's sudden urge
to be left alone all the time.
*****************
The White House
The Presidential Residence
June 30, 2001
10:36 p.m.
Donna sighed heavily before knocking
on the door to the President's residence. This was a once-in-a-lifetime
experience for her, and she didn't want to screw it up. Normally, this
place was reserved for senior staff members. But Donna convinced herself
that the President believed in her more and more as the days went on and
would not have invited her if he didn't trust her.
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK
"Come in," the President said.
Donna opened the door to see the President
sitting in a chair.
"What's the final verdict?" the President
asked.
"Well, sir," Donna replied, "Representative
Thurman and Senator Leahy have finally RSVP'd. That completes the list
of invitees. Senator Edwards will be introducing you, with Representative
McIntyre and Senators Nelson and Feinstein each making a brief ten minute
speech."
"Donna, let me say that you've did
a fantastic job getting this together in under the deadline you imposed
upon yourself."
"Thank you, sir," Donna said lowering
her head to avoid the President seeing her blush.
"Donna, you do understand that you
are going to this event. You must see how your hard work paid off."
"Yes, sir."
"Excellent. Thank you, Donna. Now go
home."
"Thank you, sir." Donna said on her
way out. Once she was out of the President's residence, she pumped her
fists in the air. The Secret Service Agents looked at Donna with curiosity.
"Sorry, guys," Donna said feeling a
little embarrassed. "I was just excited."
The Secret Service Agents nodded, each
of them trying to hide a grin.
Donna bid a hasty retreat down the
hall.
*****************
The Watergate Hotel
5 July 2001
10:05 p.m.
"Thank you all for coming out tonight
to this event. We're officially off and running. With your continued support,
we're gonna win in February, we're gonna win on Super Tuesday and we're
gonna win in November! God Bless You and God Bless America!"
The crowd rose to their feet in unison.
The applause and cheers resonated throughout the ballroom of the Watergate
Hotel. The Bartlet staff, each wearing formal attire, joined in. Leo and
Toby celebrated with a hearty handshake, CJ and Sam gave each other a high-five
and Josh gently placed his hand on Donna's shoulder, but recoiled suddenly
when he caught Leo's scolding glare.
"Okay troops, gather 'round," Leo said.
"We hit a homerun with the speech. This weekend's the one and only time
we have to relax. Then it's crunch time with a capital 'C'."
"Please," Toby said in disgust, "not
the barbecue!"
"Yes, the barbecue," Leo replied. "Donna,
the President's very appreciative of all the hard work you did getting
this thing organized. He'd like you to join us at the farm."
"M-me?" Donna said, taken slightly
aback. "I'd be honored."
Josh, standing at Leo's shoulder dropped
his chin instinctively and smiled slightly. He was barely aware he had
done it but once he realized it, he put a stern look on his face again.
He surveyed the eyes of his colleagues. None appeared to notice.
"All right, now that that's done, I
want everybody at the White House tomorrow at 6:30 am for a 7 am departure,"
Leo continued.
"Which means we'll leave by nine,"
CJ said dryly.
"We told the President we have a 5
am departure so we can leave by 7," Leo responded. "Now go."
The group disbanded and headed for
the exit. Leo was beside CJ, giving her last minute instructions on the
press conference that followed the speech. Sam and Toby were arguing over
the section of the speech that the President skipped. The President had
already exited surrounded by his Secret Service detail. Josh and Donna
completed the parade. They walked together in silence. This manner of walking
was becoming the norm for them. Josh had his hands shoved deep into the
pockets, and Donna pulled her wrap closer.
When he noticed that everyone was in
deep conversation, Josh pulled back slightly, letting Donna walk ahead.
He studied her lines, her movement, the way her blonde hair swayed, her
dress.
That dress…where had he seen it
before?
Oh. It's that dress. The
red one from the date with the lobbyist.
The group came to the automatic doors
that led them to the warm and slightly humid night air. The rhythmic swoosh
of the doors startled Josh. Certain things, sudden movements or sounds,
still jarred him--yet another lingering reminder from that night in Virginia.
The staff piled into their respective
vehicles--all except Josh and Donna. They stood on the curb with Josh looking
at the DC skyline and Donna gazing up at the stars.
"I see you kept the dress." Josh said,
his gaze shifting from the horizon towards the ground, but never at Donna.
"Yeah. I decided that after my miserable
date with Todd, I deserved a little pick-me-up."
"Good, I mean, it looks good on you--fabulous
actually," Josh said, rocking back and forth on his heels.
"Thank you," Donna whispered.
"Do you have a ride home? I didn't
see when you got here."
"Yeah, my roommate Ashley came with
me," Donna said pointing towards a tall, ebony-haired woman.
"Well, okay then."
"Okay."
"Good night Donna," Josh said. "See
you tomorrow. Sleep well."
"Thanks," Donna replied. "You, too."
Josh watched as Donna headed away from
him and towards her roommate. Ashley looked at Donna and smiled. Her gaze
then shifted to Josh. Ashley's stare went from warm and welcoming to cold
and harsh. Josh knew her demeanor towards him was mostly because of the
way he treated her cats, especially when Josh came over drunk. But this
look had nothing to do with those furballs. This look was all about Donna.